Did you catch the newly crowned leader of the Republican Party's "first address to the nation" Friday night? I am truly embarrassed for my Republican friends as to how far the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt has fallen.
As I discuss in my book, The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be, the Republican Party began as the party of radical reform. In the Big Change Moment of the 1860s, they abolished slavery, passed the three most far reaching progressive constitutional amendments in history outside of the Bill of Rights, made sure the freedoms of the Bill of Rights would be enforced in the states, gave away millions of acres of free land to poor people, started the land grant university system, and passed the nation's first progressive income tax. Although they increasingly became the party of big business in the years afterwards, Teddy Roosevelt brought them back some of their glory by breaking up big corporate trusts, establishing a national parks system, instituting food safety measures for the first time, and establishing other reforms of the progressive era.
Sadly for the country and their party, though, Republicans have become more and more conservative in the years since. Not a single Republican House member supported Social Security, the minimum wage, or most of the other major reforms of the New Deal. Only a few remaining Northern moderates supported civil rights legislation in the 1960s, and most of those were driven out of the party when Goldwaterites and southern segregationists took over the leadership of the Republican Party in that decade.
Now they have sunk to a new low, as Rush Limbaugh has become their virtually undisputed leader. Did you see the adoring reception at the Conservative Political Action Committee Convention? The way attendees listened in rapture to every word of his 80 minute speech? The reception for Limbaugh far, far exceeded GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney or that of Senate Minority Leader McConnell. As I discuss in The Progressive Revolution, Limbaugh's ugly, mocking, racist and sexist rhetoric is eerily similar to the worst right wing demagogues in American history, people who opposed ending slavery and Jim Crow, denying women the right to vote, and attacking immigrants who were not of European descent. Yet no matter how ugly or outrageous his remarks, Republicans rarely do anything to distance themselves from him, and one GOP congressman who did last year was forced to quickly apologize and beg for forgiveness. Now RNC chair Michael Steele made a half-hearted attempt to stand up to him, but he too almost immediately backed down. No matter what Limbaugh says or does, no Republican dares stand up to him because he controls their party.
Now Limbaugh has made himself crystal clear: even in the midst of the terrible economic crisis we are in, he wants the president to fail. No Republican member of Congress has condemned those remarks. That's why groups are joining together to take action and to congratulate Rush on ascending to the Republican Party's heights - by dragging it down to his level. Limbaugh says he hopes President Obama's economic plan fails, and Republican leaders have rushed to agree.
Never mind that the fate of our economy - and Americans who are suffering because of its decline - are at stake. And that siding with Rush means rooting against recovery.
The most telling thing about Limbaugh's speech is how badly he mangled the words of the Constitution. His quote was classic:
We [conservatives] love and revere our founding documents, the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We believe that the preamble to the Constitution contains an inarguable truth that we are all endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, freedom, and the Pursuit of happiness. Those of you watching at home may wonder why this is being applauded. We Conservatives think all three are under assault.
Yeah, you revere those documents so much you don't know which sentence is in what document. And you don't know that equality was at the cornerstone of Jefferson's Declaration. I guess that's not a surprise: conservatives throughout history have always wanted to ignore that inconvenient idea in the Declaration that was at the heart of the American idea.
Right now, it's good to be Rush. Let's let him know we're happy for him by sending a congratulations card from Americans United for Change by clicking here.
http://jimbernard.org/gpage16.html
From everything I have read, Capitalism has some very definite rules of structure in order to function effectively for both the owner and the employee.
In the name of Free Markets and Free Enterprise, those rules of structure have been terribly violated.
For example, the free trade aspect of Capitalism calls for a fair and even playing field on the part of both nations. If one subsidizes their exports or manipulates their currency, the other will be at a severe disadvantage.
Another example, Look what Wall Street did with the mortgage market when it became a totally free enterprise with no rules, no structure, and no regulation. The excesses took a great Capitalistic mechanism and destroyed it.
FAIR MARKETS should be the catchword instead of FREE MARKETS.
In the 1920's Republican politicians were active in and promoted the KKK, stole millions from the US treasury (Tea Pot Dome), and in the 1930's they simply made it their policy to ignore the suffering of the American people. Gop icons like Henry Ford and Nelson Rockefeller were doing business with the likes of Mussolini and Hitler all the way up to the advent of WWII. In the 1950's, politicians like Richard Nixon developed cozy subterranean ties to the Mafia, while the Gop advocated and promoted the Big Government military-industrial empire we now live with. And yet, the party continued its relentless march further and further to the Right. It has gone from Very-Corrupt-and-Evil in 1909, to Totally-Absolutely-Corrupt-and-Evil in 2009. That's some kind of progress, I guess.
The niece of Dr. Martin Luther King spoke out strongly against abortion at her "Can the Dream Survive?" presentation in Warriner Hall's Plachta Auditorium. Some students were surprised to learn that was the topic of her lecture. Several of the about 650-person audience walked out.
"I felt a little misled personally," said Flint senior Detrone Turner, who said he thought the speech was going to be about increasing diversity.
And of course the best way to increase "diversity" is by refusing to listen to anyone you disagree with."
--J. Taranto, Best of the Web
Gop'ers wont condemn the porker because deep down, all those old, white men feel the same, because a black man came out on top of the old white man, so they all want to see him fail. This so they can then point fingers and say: See? We told you that boy wasn't no good. Shoulda let the white man win.
But Obama will win. This country will be back on its feet in 2 years. How can we not believe in this? If we don't, we are doomed. The country will be back, and gop will be relegated to having a seat on the sidelines and listening to piggies snort and snuffle in the sh*t they spew.
Perhaps, Limbaugh is too wealthy to notice that:
LOWER INCOME and MIDDLE CLASS taxpayers DO PAY:
----STATE INCOME TAXES ( most states are not as lenient on low income wage earners as the federal government)
----LOCAL INCOME TAXES based on location of employment
----SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES
--------Workman"s Compensation Taxes
--------Unemployment Compensation Taxes
----SALES TAXES
----GASOLINE TAXES
----REAL ESTATE TAXES (private ownership or rental)
--------LOCAL PROPERTY ASSESSMENT TAXES
----SIN TAXES (ALCOHOL, CIGARETTE, ETC�)
----LICENSE FEES (Federal, State, County, and Local)
----SERVICE FEES charged by Local, State, and Federal Government
----FEDERAL/STATE LOTTERY SUPPORT
----USE TAXES
--------Water Service Utility Taxes
--------Telephone Taxes (local, state, and federal)
--------Electricity and Heating Fuel Taxes
--------Cable/Internet Service Taxes
--------Toll Road Fees
--------Airport Taxes
--------Hotel Taxes
--------Car Rental Taxes
--------Entertainment Taxes (movies, restaurants, amusement parks, etc.)
--------Excise Taxes
--------Miscellaneous Taxes (too many to enumerate)
AND
Taxes paid by LOWER INCOME and MIDDLE CLASS taxpayers are REGRESSIVE.
Rates are the same regardless of income.
People who pay most of the above listed taxes supporting their communities, states and infrastructure ARE PAYING THEIR SHARE OR MORE!
I got it. Usual rethugs steal from the poor to give to the rich scheme.
We know the truth now, of course, despite recent pathetic attempts to alter history - the New Deal saved capitalism and the country, and virtually nobody (except perhaps Mr. Limbaugh) has any desire to return to child labor, 90-hour weeks with no overtime and the full litany of what we now regard as horrible conditions that were hailed by the Republicans of the time as "the American Way."
Yes, your basic premise has merit. But are you sure this statement of yours is correct?
"Only a few remaining Northern (Republican) moderates supported civil rights legislation in the 1960s"
According to this article
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.aspx?GUID={9C024F95-4ECE-424A-B5B7-0DAA3E049189}
"That's not exactly right. Bread-and-butter conservatives in Congress (as opposed to conservative writers)...were strong supporters of equal rights for all Americans. Although the Democrats controlled both houses of the Congress at the time, a much-higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats supported the civil-rights bill."
There is only one thing that Progressives and Democrats need to discuss and that is how to DESTROY the Conservative movement in this nation.
They can cry, scream and kick all they want, blame whoever they will for their self caused demise and irrelevance, anoint as many corrupt, vulgar and stupid talk show hosts as they want.
Perhaps now the Democratic Party can become the "conservative" party and a new force of progressivism can emerge, a true left.
The world cannot continue in the path to a self fulfilled apocalyptic prophecy guided by delusional fanatics, opportunistic manipulators, plutocrats and their scared sheep.
You forgot nihlistic, i.e.,
-government is not the solution but the problem.
-wants Obama to fail, i.e, the country to fail.
-believe that gov't does not have a role in helping its own citizens b/c that would be "socialism."